Food dept, KWSC approval must for water extraction permits: SHC

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has restrained the local government’s towns and councils from issuing water extraction permits to companies unless they have been authorised by the provincial food department and the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation (KWSC).

The order came on a petition of a water company that had challenged the KWSC Act’s regulations about imposing water extraction charges and granting permissions.

An SHC division bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar ordered the LG additional chief secretary to direct all chairmen, union committees and town committees to not issue permits to companies for extracting water unless they are authorised by the food department and the KWSC.

The court said that it is important that the KWSC continues to have domain over licence issuance and checking/testing subsoil water, while the rest of the province does not benefit due to the non-application of the applicable KWSC law and regulations.

The bench directed the chief secretary and the law secretary to examine the KWSC law by forming a committee, and ensure the same nature of legislation in the rest of Sindh, or widen the scope and applicability of the KWSC Act to cover the entire province.

The court directed the CS to ensure that the operational cost of the SNEs for running every project being routed and initiated through the planning & development department has been approved prior to the submission of the PC-4, which would otherwise be considered deficient.

The petitioner’s counsel said his client had obtained permission from Bin Qasim Town and was extracting water to purify it. He questioned the KWSC’s authority, saying that it has no jurisdiction to take action against the petitioner.

The bench said the petitioner is registered with the Sindh Food Authority (SFA), and its chairman and director general have told the court that food is a provisional subject, and potable water also falls under the category of food.

The court said the SFA chairman and DG had informed the court that they had taken action against various companies, including foreign ones, and had found the water, claimed to be mineral water, unfit for human consumption.

The bench said the SFA had undertaken before the court that they would launch a campaign against all the companies in the province and ensure that they do not breach the trust of consumers in the name of mineral water and provide only purified potable water.

The court said the SFA had also undertaken that they would examine the standard of the plastic bottles provided by the companies, and in the case of their being substandard and against regulation, their permits would be cancelled with coercive action.

The SFA DG told the SHC that around 400 bottled/mineral water companies are registered with them, while it has also come on record that around 800 companies are registered with the federal government’s relevant department.

The bench said that the volume of the companies registered by Sindh and the federation appears to be a smokescreen, adding that it is not appealable to a prudent mind that hundreds of companies can be checked by two laboratories.

The court was informed by amicus Mohammad Vawda that Pakistan is also a signatory to the water treaty, whereby there should be legislation on bottled/mineral water, but unfortunately, the specific law is not in field regulating the subject.

The Sindh advocate general undertook before the court that he would pursue the matter, and that work on the subject legislation would be carried out in accordance with WHO standards.

The bench directed the SFA and the federal authority dealing with the subject to re-examine all the issued licences by notifying a special committee comprising senior officials relating to the subject under scrutiny to physically visit the plants of those companies and ensure that water testing is being carried out according to the values and standards set by the WHO.

The court said that after the perusal of the existing laws, it reflects that even arsenic and fluoride are optional, which is shocking because arsenic causes cancer.

The bench said that it is expected that the federal and Sindh governments would legislate in view of the standards and guidelines provided by the WHO and the water treaty, including the FDA and federal regulations.

The court said that it has also come on record that in the name of mineral water available in the market, there is no distinction whether that it is spring water or sub-soil water, adding that spring water can be considered mineral water, but other kinds of water are to be considered bottled water.

The bench said that all the companies are required to mention on every brand, and also highlight the same, whether the water is bottled or mineral.

The court directed the federal law officer to file comments with regard to the controversy as whether the subject issue is related to the Centre or it is a provincial subject.

Regarding the approval of the SNEs of 17 laboratories, the bench directed the public health engineering department to submit the dates of the projects and the completion of the buildings, the purchase of equipment and the approval of the SNEs from six months ago.

The court directed that a complete breakup in the given formation must be filed by the public health engineering department. The bench directed the health secretary to file the complete breakup of all the dialysis machines purchased by the Sindh government on different fora.

The court said the health secretary must also submit a report about the approval of their SNEs, and whether qualified and trained paramedical staff are appointed who are competent enough to make those dialysis machines completely functional/operational.

The bench said that the health secretary must apprise the court if the Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation (SIUT) is working, and doing the needful for the general public.

The court said the government cannot be exempted by citing the efforts of Dr Adib Rizvi for establishing the SIUT in Karachi and Sukkur with the help of the provincial government. The bench directed the health department to file a report clarifying specifically about the dialysis machines that are available throughout the province in various Taluka and district hospitals, stating whether they have sufficient SNEs and properly trained staff.